The International Ballet Festival "Mariinsky" will celebrate its first jubilee year which will take place for the tenth time in Petersburg from April 15-25th. The press office of the Mariinsky Theatre communicated this today.

The hosts of the celebration will present the premiere of the ballet "Carmen Suite" with choreography by Alberto Alonso to the music of Bise-Schedrin. The consultant to the young dancers will be the first Carmen ballerina, Maya Plisetskaya, who fulfilled this role in the Bolshoi Theatre. One other premiere will be the ballet "Anna Karenina", set to music of Rodion Schedrin with the choreography of Alexei Ratmansky. In the first cast the leading roles are being prepared by leading soloists of the company, Diana Vishneva and Andrian Fadeyev. Prima ballerina Uliana Lopatkina is also preparing the role of Anna.

One key point of the festival will be the evening of young choreographers, which will include productions for famous dancers Leonid Sarafanov, VIktoria Tereshkina and Ekaterina Kondaurova. By invitation, choreographer from New York City Ballet Edward Liang, soloist of the Mariinsky Theatre Yuri Smekalov and Emil Faski, who previously set ballet sections for the opera "Trojans" will present their works.

Two evenings will be dedicated to the 100th birthday anniversary of Vakhtang Chabukiani and Tatiana Vecheslova.

Festival guests include the Lyon Opera Ballet, which will present their production of "Giselle" with the choreography of Mats Ek. Stars from the Bolshoi, Paris, London and New York will take part; master classes for younger dancers will be led by pedagogue-balletmaster of the Paris Opera Michel Denar and pedagogue fo the National Academy of Ballet of Amsterdam, Grigory Checherin.

Thanks very much, Catherine. This gives us some more insight into what the casting might be as well as other important information. Do you see any performances that you think might be possible or desirable for Evgenia Obraztsova?

There is also a more complete description of the different performances.

Alina Cojocaru

I am personally very happy to see her return after several years of dealing with a severe neck injury. Prior to her injury she was a regular featured performer at each year of the Festival (for three or four years in a row?), performing a full length classical lead at each. She is very popular, it would seem in Saint Petersburg, based on these invitations and the audience responses that I witnessed at three of these performances. You notice that her name is first in the above listing. She is a lovely and super-talented person, whom I wish much future success.

[the above site information, I note, is the same that has been previously posted by sophia at "Dansomanie".]

There are several women who will be very prominent at this year's Festival who interest me very much and who share similarities. They are Svetlana Zakharova, Alina Somova and Natalia Osipova. They have all been associated to one degree or another with 'flamboyance' (big jumps, high leg extensions, etc.)

I tend to like very much what I will call lyrical dancers, more known perhaps for gracefulness and refinement than for bravura or 'flamboyance'. These would include such dancers as Ulyana Lopatkina, Svetlana Lunkina, Evgenia Obaztsova, Ekaterina Osmolkina....

The thing that does impress me so much about Svetlana Zakharova, Alina Somova and Natalia Osipova is that they all have a strong element of grace and refinement as well as 'flamboyance'.

Svetlana Zakharova seems to be moving more and more towards refinement. I have always found her to be amazingly graceful as well. One element that I see developing very noticeably at times is her inner conviction and her sincerity of character.

Alina Somova, although very highly noted at the moment for her flamboyance, can also move as beautifully and gracefully as any ballerina that I have ever seen (on video or live). She perhaps fascinates me the most because she might possibly have the largest and most impressive dance 'vocabulary' (versatility) of any ballet dancer. To my eyes she seems to be capable of doing most anything extremely well. What directions she goes in with these exceptional capabilities will be very interesting to follow.

Natalia Osipova is radiance personified. At the Festival she will be performing "Giselle." Act II is probably one of the most delicate and sensitive Acts in all of ballet. How she handles her interpretation at this early stage of her career will also be very interesting. The one thing that I have also noticed is her ability to be extremely graceful. Her beautiful hands have been very noticeable. Also I have referred to her as 'the dancer who never seems to touch the ground' with her lovely footwork.

So I greatly look forward to this next Festival. I look forward to seeing how these remarkable ladies present themselves and how brightly all the other wonderful artists will shine. There should be some absolutely beautiful performances this year and, based on personal experience, they might not always come from where we expect them to.

It's not because I'd really like to see 'Veronika' (Part) at the Festival or that I might have 'Veronika Fever' or anything, but I just checked my pulse and the possibility again of flying from Europe to Chicago for her April 17 "Swan Lake." Then I could fly back to Europe the 18th and be at the Festival by the 19th. Maybe I could even talk her into coming back to Saint Petersburg with me for a performance.

Rather unlikely--all! I think that I can walk this one off.

If there is anyone else in Europe pondering the same situation there are several flights leaving from Paris. They cost about $900 (round trip) and take about 9 hours.

PS--In any case it looks to be another wonderful Festival and I am greatly looking forward to being there!

Just a quick note. After peeking into the studios last week, the dancers are hard at work attempting to learn and perfect five new ballets in a seriously short time span: Karenina, Carmen, Liang's piece, Smekalov's piece and Faksi's piece. It's a whirlwind!

Well I'm starting to get excited about being at this year's Festival. It will be my sixth year in a row. It is definitely something that I look forward to, a highlight in my life.

The names of many of the performers are stellar as usual. The performances promise to be of the highest level possible.

There is always an aura in the Mariinsky Theater of excellence and elevation. There is a sense of being somewhere very special in the world of arts and dreams.

There is also a sense of family at these Festivals. First of all the auditorium area and the entry areas of the theater are not large. It almost has a living room feel to it. Then there are the faces that are there year after year.

At the first balcony level, is a box next to the stage on the right. It has about ten seats and this is often where you will see most of your dancers who are there to take a look. They may go in and out. They may stand in back of the seats. Also there seem to be coaches and other folks who look like they belong there. Some are regulars. Some are almost predictable in their being there, based on who is performing that night. I couldn't tell you who half of them are, but we exchange 'good to see you again' glances year after year.

Also I look forward to seeing other faces, the folks at the hotel, the folks where I go and relax. There are very friendly, helpful individuals at all these places, who are at least half the pleasure of being there.

The city is old and in the process of constant restoration, but it is a city that was built to look beautiful, and it does.

There is a large park near my hotel, where in the warmer weather, many of Saint Petersburg's warmest citizens, the children, play, lighting up the entire day (true everywhere).

Then it's time to light up the night. When the evening arrives and the curtain goes up at the Mariinsky Theater everything is transformed immediately into another world -- an enchanted land of beauty and wonder.

I leave tomorrow for Saint Petersburg, the long way, but I hope to be at the Mariinsky by this weekend. As usual I will probably have limited internet access, but if anything really nice happens I will try and post it as soon as I can.

Kondaurova, sadly, won't get to dance Anna until May 1, but it is a performance I will not miss. While walking out of the hall today I heard someone say "Kondaurova is going to be the best Anna." We will see.

Ratmansky's piece uses clips from the Russian film version of "Anna" transposed onto the upstage scrim -- with the actual dancers playing Anna dressed as her. It is a very professional and tightly woven special effect. I think this will be a huge crowd pleaser in this country given the source of the libretto!

I think this will be a huge crowd pleaser in this country given the source of the libretto!

Anna K. is a strange read for the 21st century though. I was surprised when I read the book that much of it is about a rather unpleasant character called Levin, who gets nasty towards a much younger girl he's been chasing when she is more interested in someone else. I'm surprised the book kept its popularity in the Soviet era as it is about a leisured moneyed class indulging in affairs to fend off the ennui. The only character I found vaguely sympathetic was cuckolded Karenin - at least he had a proper job!

Kondaurova, sadly, won't get to dance Anna until May 1, but it is a performance I will not miss. While walking out of the hall today I heard someone say "Kondaurova is going to be the best Anna." We will see.

Indeed. Kondaurova may be the "hungriest" of the three Annas to make her mark.

I’m reviewing the festival for another publication so I can’t give a detailed review here, but I will say that I watched both nights of Anna Karenina and of the two I do believe Lopatkina gave the more careful reading of the role. Both Vishneva and Lopatkina bring different interpretations to the role of Anna. Vishneva approached hers with the passionate abandon of Manon – here was an Anna who didn’t hesitate (or if she did, it was only perfunctorily so) to rush towards count Vronsky. In contrast to the Kitty of her cast (Evgenia Obratsova) Vishneva’s Anna appeared a mature woman.

Lopatkina’s struggle was more careful and more considered – she appeared less an impetuous woman driven by desire than someone weighing the conflict between family commitment, societal expectation, and the tug of her own heartstrings. Of the two I enjoyed this interpretation more, for it gave a layer of depth to the final outcome – less Juliet-type tragedy and more a desperate, almost inevitable demise.

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